I am looking forward to the weekend. I have been looking around for a beamer for quite sometime and yesterday I ran into a special sale. Incredible bargin for a beamer, so before I move it, I will watch a movie with it this weekend. But this is not all, part of that offer was a nitendo station with a sports game. So no I am the lucky owner of a nitendo station. :-)

What a wonderful word. I've not heard that used in the States... took me a moment to decipher what you meant. Turns out -- according to Wikipedia -- a beamer is slang for a video projector. It is a pseudo-anglicism in a number of languages including German, Dutch, and Latvian.

We just call them projectors here... I'm going to start using beamer though... what a great, descriptive word!

I vowed years ago never to own a BMW. We had never had a car at home and always used bicycles or public transport...one day the boss in the 1st practice I worked in gave me his BMW keys to get a file out of the boot. I'd never opened a car boot before...he said all I had to do was click the key at the car and it would open. Fair enough says I and head out to get the file...15 mins later I returned with no file having spent the entire time clicking the key (and unlocking the car) and then sticking the key in the lock, twisting it and relocking the car!!! I almost threw the keys back at him in frustration!

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Oscar Wilde

My major issue with them, apart from the emissions and the terrifying servicing costs, was that, after three days in charge of one of them, I turned into a BMW driver.

I'm sure there's a mind-control chip in the driver's headrest...

But, as a woman driving one of those things, you get cut up, tailgated-the one time one of them got keyed was when I was driving it. And it seems like every moron in town wants to race you from traffic lights. Not that I ever sank to that. Or could have done. The clutch was much higher than on my car, which meant that I frequently stalled it and looked silly anyway. :)

yes, she has a go every day. I have been known to have a go every now and then too.

although some of the other stupid games on there have been more to my taste. dropping balanced balls down holes, and ski jumping have been my preferred form of entertainment on it. (and I'm spectacularly rubbish at snowboarding)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

so maybe some time later on, I might look into it getting the yoga thing. The game that came with the station is for sports - but boxing is not my stil, tennis is also not my game, but maybe I look in to golf.

...and being the most energetic of the sports on it you can also end up with painful injuries...like pulling things in your arms, shoulders...a cousin of mine even fell over a table! Then again she also is left handed and in playing the tennis game hit her opponent in the head and knocked over a lamp...

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. Oscar Wilde

Climate change will lead to a "fortress world" in which the rich lock themselves away in gated communities and the poor must fend for themselves in shattered environments, unless governments act quickly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, according to the vice-president of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC).

Mohan Munasinghe was giving a lecture at Cambridge University in which he presented a dystopic possible future world in which social problems are made much worse by the environmental consequences of rising greenhouse gas emissions. "Climate change is, or could be, the additional factor which will exacerbate the existing problems of poverty, environmental degradation, social polarisation and terrorism and it could lead to a very chaotic situation," he said.

The scenario, which he termed "barbarisation" was already beginning to happen, he said. "Fortress world is a situation where the rich live in enclaves, protected, and the poor live outside in unsustainable conditions.

"If you see what is going on in some of the gated communities in some countries you do find that rich people live in those kind of protected environments. If you see the restrictions on international travel you see the beginnings of the fortress world syndrome even in entering and leaving countries," he said.

This new feudalism is already going on full-tilt. But, much of the rich seem to have foolishly hunkered down in Dubai rather than in the northern climes. Likely, they'll be able to move easily though.

I think that is the most natural barrier. It is much cheaper to control than lots of gated communities, and reminds, that in some countries the vast majority of people are rich, by international standards. EU/USA are gated communities.

Naomi Klein, the author of Shock Doctrine, writes about the cyclone and earthquake aftermath in Burma and China for The Nation, Regime-Quakes in Burma and China.

... None of this compares with the rage boiling over in Burma, where cyclone survivors have badly beaten at least one local official, furious at his failure to distribute aid. There have been dozens of reports of the Burmese junta taking credit for supplies sent by foreign countries. It turns out that they have been taking more than credit--in some cases they have been taking the aid ... The generals, it seems, are "haunted by an almost pathological fear of a split inside their own ranks...if soldiers are not given priority in aid distribution and are unable to feed themselves, the possibility of mutiny rises." ...

This relatively small-scale theft of food is fortifying the junta for its much larger heist--the one taking place via the constitutional referendum the generals have insisted on holding, come hell and high water...

The cyclone, meanwhile, has presented them with one last, vast business opportunity: by blocking aid from reaching the highly fertile Irrawaddy delta, hundreds of thousands of mostly ethnic Karen rice farmers are being sentenced to death. According to Farmaner, "that land can be handed over to the generals' business cronies" (shades of the beachfront land grabs in Sri Lanka and Thailand after the Asian tsunami). This isn't incompetence, or even madness. It's laissez-faire ethnic cleansing.

I think she has the Myanmar junta in Burma pegged, but I'm not convinced she has China right. Anyway, I find what she has to write interesting in light of her other writings.

It's a long way from Germany to Beijing -- especially in a 26-horsepower Trabant. But one dauntless man is making his 10th trip to the Olympics in a cult East German car and is more worried about bureaucracy than breaking down.

Hundreds of thousands of people will be traveling to the Beijing Summer Olympics this August. But what better way to get to the world's largest communist country than in that icon of East German socialism, the Trabant?

As swimsuit season approaches, women are discovering that many of this summer's suits represent a sharp turnaround from the crass arrangement of string and sequins that in recent years has made the Hamptons shore look like a Vegas sideshow.

For one, I would not make a precondition that "Iran abandons its nuclear program". It is hypocritical in light that the U.S. start Iran along the nuclear path and that the U.S. is in the Middle East handing out nuclear plants to the UAE and Saudi Arabia. I would have tried for more nuanced with stating Iran's nuclear program will not be used for a nuclear weapons program.

This is The Reason I cannot support Obama. I can't answer that question & neither can anybody else. With no track record, all answers wind-up being based on his cadre of advisers - he may not follow - or projection - from his supporter's position(s.)

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

Tony is a veritable dynamo of multi-tasking political genius. He would have found it no problem to save the middle East from the Muslims, turn Europe into a vassal state of the Vatican and preach to the next generation at assorted prestigious world universities.

I know I'm right: I volunteered on his Senate campaign. I totally loved the guy. The first time I met him I was absolutely star-struck, for days. Well before he became a household name. But things got really creepy really quickly. He shot to stardom, and his actions in the Senate were not as progressive as the way he'd sold himself in his campaign. He was suddenly all about bi-partisanship. That was not what he ran on. He did run on being against the war. And I think he honestly was. No one in this town supported it. But I don't know if he would have voted against it in the Senate. Why? Because I think a lot of people in the Senate were against it, but got bullied into voting for it anyway. And Obama has not shown himself to be able to take a very unpopular stand in the Senate. he's not the Paul Wellstone. He has accepted hook, line and sinker the "way things are done" in the Senate. It's weird. I don't think he is insincere about being a progressive. I just think he is as vulnerable to the machinations, pressures, game of politics as anyone else.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

In what universe is 17 people "quite a few"? We're talking about a completely unjustified war! The whole entire rest of the world knew it was a bad idea. So good of 21 Democrats to agree. So sad it wasn't enough.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

Campaigning for the Illinois Senate seat in 2003 and 2004, Obama scolded Bush for invading Iraq and vowed he would "unequivocally" vote against an additional $87 billion to pay for it. Yet since taking office in January 2005, he has voted for four separate war appropriations, totaling more than $300 billion.

Last June, Obama voted no to Senator John F. Kerry's proposal to remove most combat troops from Iraq by July 2007, warning that an "arbitrary deadline" could "compound" the Bush administration's mistake. And last week, he voted for a Republican-sponsored resolution that stated the Senate would not cut off funding for troops in Iraq.

Not quite the dedicated opposition you'd expect from a passionate anti-war candidate.

FWIW, I do distinguish between opposing the war and voting for appropriations, esp. when your consituents are calling you asking why their sons in Iraq don't have any body armour. Granted most of that money is going to line the pockets of private corporations. But that's very hard to sell to constituents.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

FWIW, I do distinguish between opposing the war and voting for appropriations, esp. when your consituents are calling you asking why their sons in Iraq don't have any body armour.

It's probably not a winnable argument with the electorate, but I think there's also a reasonable argument that says voting for the appropriations is simply keeping the soldiers in harm's way while shoveling money to Bush's corporate buddies. Cut the funding, and he might have to end it.

The problem, of course, is that Bush may then simply tear Iraq money out of the rest of the Pentagon budget and say, "Nope, you lose again. Hehehehehehehe."

I should have known that but it's no surprise. There is a solid agreement in the US House and Senate "support for the troops" = "leaving them there to die for a bit longer so it doesn't harm my career."

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

I suspect mainly the former. A lot of the press since Bush's speech has centered on Obama and Jewish voters, and so it's probably a lot of needless bullshitting.

The problem, as I see it, is that he hasn't been very consistent on Israel, though, which is what the Reps are trying to capitalize on. (It's not going to pay off for them, because most people don't have strong feelings about Israel. And Obama's winning 2-to-1 among Jews anyway.) As I understand it, Obama and most of his political allies back in Chicago are not wild about Israeli policy, along the lines of Carter (recall Wright and the Hamas/Hezbollah stuff).

The part that I think you're talking about, where he goes into how Bush policy led Hamas ruling Palestine, strikes me as being potentially a worrying bit, but also as probably being just bad writing on his speech-writer's part. I think he was trying to point out the irony of the Bushies hating Hamas but having brought them to power.

Not slamming the "Iran is developing nukes" meme is what I found worrying.

I suddenly hear a news reporter asking Barak Obama, "Sir, with the positions you have been taking recently, you seem to be leaning very much toward the pro-republican agenda. Pro-Israel--no matter what? Have they been freed from international law? Very harsh words about Iran, though less harsh than those of your republican opponent, and George Bush, and the various hangers-on, but isn't it true that our own security forces have confirmed that there isn't a weapon's programme, and that there wasn't back in 2003 when the republicans claimed--I mean, senator, these are the exact arguments you could use to bring down not just Bush, who is a figurehead, but the entire corrupt financial system--

Good coverage this evening, thanks! Barak Obama at a certain point morphed into Tony Blair in my head, and I thought, "Yes, but Tony Blair needed George Bush to push him into a war. Who's Barak Obama's George Bush?"

But England is smaller than the U.S. The U.S. is equal biggest, at least, with China and Russia and India and the EU.

So I thought, "Would Tony Blair have gone to war if he had been president of the United States?"

The U.S. had it's 2004, so I'll make the analogy: as Bush's second term is to John Major's....no no. But a healthy rate of say and do, about 50/50 is good--but keeping the doing to 50, but the doing is winning the election...I remember the Bill Hick's sketch.

US Operational Intelligence Doctrine is potential (what could be done) based not probable (the most likely course is ...) based. Theory says this is better as the US is prepared for the Worst Case Scenario to unfold. In practice it leads to institutionalized paranoia.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

I'm all for talking, but diplomacy with the Iranians is exceedingly complex and requires regular exercising, with experts on the ground who can follow every nuance of the power shifts between all the different elements from bazaari to the sprirtual police. It is also a long term game for which the quarterly-oriented posturing mind is ill-equipped to understand.

Talking also involves listening; and that is possibly the hardest part for such people. Finally I'd ask any w*stern poltician,"OK, what are the 5 pillars of Islam?"

I'm all for talking, but diplomacy with the Iranians is exceedingly complex and requires regular exercising, with experts on the ground who can follow every nuance of the power shifts between all the different elements from bazaari to the sprirtual police.

But wouldn't you agree that's true of diplomacy in general? It's undoubtedly easier to understand, from the perspective of an American politician or diplomat, the dynamics of Britain or Canada or Australia, but I think it goes to more of a willful ignorance -- the Culture of Emboldened Stupidity, to use Matt Taibbi's brilliant description -- than to specifics about Iran.

Ironically, I'll bet you $5 (0.20) the only big-name American politician who can name the five pillars of Islam is Rudy Mussolini.

Yes it is true in general. Diplomacy is conducted mostly by unseen experts in the culture, language, strategies and tactics of the other side. Political leaders have little to do with this process except for ensuring the long-term support and availability of the experts.

Only when this process leads to mutual agreement can progress be announced publicly. The photo-op is a spin-off of diplomacy, not an instrument.

so I've changed my presidential campaign website to say 'Spencer for President in 2011' on the "About us" page.

We're all going on hope, and hope alone, over here. You can parse Obama's words from now until February, 2009, and you ain't going to figure it out. To a high level of confidence, we know little about President Obama.

I say this as an elected Obama delegate (to the WA state convention, where I will try and fail to be a national delegate). All I know is that I have enough information on the Clintons to oppose another presidency for them. As for Obama - gotta love his slogans.

My take is that: 1) from an electoral POV we have to go after the local offices, the state offices, and the House of Representatives - maybe the Senate. NBBooks diary on the development of wind-based power generation of this past week is a case in point for the local and state levels of power. The development rate is being driven by utilities and new state laws. It's not nearly fast enough, but the snowball is rolling downhill, at least.

2) by 2011 the shit is still going to be hitting the fan, and USians are going to be very excited in a not-good sort of way. Best to have a good program and organization ready for Naomi's latest set of shocks.

Do people have plans for the weekend? There is a ton going on here & I doubt I'm going to be able to do it all.

Tonight there is an urban arts festival, Manifest. All weekend there is the Green Festival (for which my lovely phone comany has provided me with free tix). And Sunday morning (uhg! why morning?!) Aleksandar Hemon is giving a reading.

Does everyone here know who Aleksandar Hemon is? If not - you MUST check him out. I know I use the term "genius" a lot, but he really is. He's a Bosnian fellow who basically got trapped in Chicago during the war, somehow managed to become fluent in English in a year or so, and writes brilliant novels about Eastern Europe and Chicago and the insanity of living in either. I find them deeply satisfying. :)

I really cannot recommend him enough.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

OK. I have a little story for you (and Mary, if she's around.) So I was at this meeting all day yesterday about some $25 million crystal dome we're getting (Woo hoo Chicago School!) and as I was eating some chocolate tarts (Woo hoo Chicago School!), the girl sitting next to me leaned over and said, "I love your shoes. You always wear the best shoes. I have shoe envy." Yay!

lol.

I'm feeling a little better. Marginally.

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

Great story! Glad to hear you're feeling a bit better. As to the shoes, well, we could hardly let them go nuts on the good shoes, right? Not that we've been all that successful so far about keeping them from doing whatever they want...

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

THE CIA tried to uncover the Kremlin's deepest secrets during the 1960s by turning cats into walking bugging devices, recently declassified documents show.

In one experiment during the Cold War a cat, dubbed Acoustic Kitty, was wired up for use as an eavesdropping platform. It was hoped that the animal - which was surgically altered to accommodate transmitting and control devices - could listen to secret conversations from window sills, park benches or dustbins.

Victor Marchetti, a former CIA officer, told The Telegraph that Project Acoustic Kitty was a gruesome creation. He said: "They slit the cat open, put batteries in him, wired him up. The tail was used as an antenna. They made a monstrosity. They tested him and tested him. They found he would walk off the job when he got hungry, so they put another wire in to override that."

Mr Marchetti said that the first live trial was an expensive disaster. The technology is thought to have cost more than £10 million. He said: "They took it out to a park and put him out of the van, and a taxi comes and runs him over. There they were, sitting in the van with all those dials, and the cat was dead."

The document, which was one of 40 to be declassified from the CIA's closely guarded Science and Technology Directorate - where spying techniques are refined - is still partly censored. This implies that the CIA was embarrassed about disclosing all the details of Acoustic Kitty, which took five years to design.

I take it that no one in the room when this idea was proposed had actually ever owned a cat...

"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.

Well, they do actually sort of have their own teevee, since they're in the TV room. They're actually too little to make it up the stairs into the rest of the house yet. They also currently have access to the studio, but haven't yet picked their own synthesizers.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

Gah, stupid fucking car mechanics. I have a bunch of repairs that I allegedly need to have done on it, but my knee-jerk reaction is to not believe a word they say, so I get to spend the weekend asking for other opinions from friends who know about these things.